Panel Title
Unspoken: A Tale of Green-washed Democracy
Location
DIGS 222
Discussant
Katarina Moyan
Panel
Water Quality, Availability, and Economic Realities of the Carolinas
Category
Carolinas
Start Date
7-11-2015 10:15 AM
End Date
7-10-2015 11:15 AM
Description
Romarco Minerals is ramping up to begin mining operations for gold in Lancaster County, South Carolina. Mining operations are of no little consequence when it comes to environmental concerns, especially when it comes to water. However, with gold holding at over 1,200 US dollars an ounce, it is of no little consequence when it comes to industrial prosperity either. This paper is intended to address the history of Haile Gold Mine, the recent approval to re-open the mine, the impacts mining operations could produce for the surrounding region both environmentally and economically, and the dominant political discourses that are relevant to this case.
While Romarco minerals promises immediate benefits to the region in the way of jobs and tax dollars, lasting effects of mining operations could end up leaving residents worse off than before. These effects include lasting scars on the landscape, air-quality disturbances, and maybe the most detrimental, contamination of groundwater and watersheds. Mining operations use cyanide in a method called heap leeching, which leaves behind gallons of toxic byproduct. One look at Brewer Mine located just up the road from the Haile site holds testament to the harm they pose to the environment. Brewer is currently on the US Superfund list.
I will first speak on the prevailing discourse which is practiced nearly world-wide; Industrialism. I will show, through examples of a seemingly green-washed application of the relevant environmental discourses, that Industrialism, through exhibition of what Charles Lindblom call the automatic punishment recoil mechanism, exerted an overwhelming influence in the decision to approve the permits for Romarco's mining operations.
I will then turn my attention to the economic realities of Lancaster County which demonstrate why the power of Industrialism left little room for ecological debate. I will give examples that show the tendency of the impoverished to make unwise decisions when it comes to the protection of their environment in the face of economic relief, and then I will make a plea for attentiveness in order that Ecological Justice succeed where other discourses failed.
Unspoken: A Tale of Green-washed Democracy
DIGS 222
Romarco Minerals is ramping up to begin mining operations for gold in Lancaster County, South Carolina. Mining operations are of no little consequence when it comes to environmental concerns, especially when it comes to water. However, with gold holding at over 1,200 US dollars an ounce, it is of no little consequence when it comes to industrial prosperity either. This paper is intended to address the history of Haile Gold Mine, the recent approval to re-open the mine, the impacts mining operations could produce for the surrounding region both environmentally and economically, and the dominant political discourses that are relevant to this case.
While Romarco minerals promises immediate benefits to the region in the way of jobs and tax dollars, lasting effects of mining operations could end up leaving residents worse off than before. These effects include lasting scars on the landscape, air-quality disturbances, and maybe the most detrimental, contamination of groundwater and watersheds. Mining operations use cyanide in a method called heap leeching, which leaves behind gallons of toxic byproduct. One look at Brewer Mine located just up the road from the Haile site holds testament to the harm they pose to the environment. Brewer is currently on the US Superfund list.
I will first speak on the prevailing discourse which is practiced nearly world-wide; Industrialism. I will show, through examples of a seemingly green-washed application of the relevant environmental discourses, that Industrialism, through exhibition of what Charles Lindblom call the automatic punishment recoil mechanism, exerted an overwhelming influence in the decision to approve the permits for Romarco's mining operations.
I will then turn my attention to the economic realities of Lancaster County which demonstrate why the power of Industrialism left little room for ecological debate. I will give examples that show the tendency of the impoverished to make unwise decisions when it comes to the protection of their environment in the face of economic relief, and then I will make a plea for attentiveness in order that Ecological Justice succeed where other discourses failed.